William "Rich Billy" Walker

 William "Rich Billy" Walker

(1765 - 1831)

  William "Rich Billy" Walker, son of George Walker (1737-1779) and Mary Duhart was born in Burke County, GA. He married Mary Vivion on November 20, 1791.  The couple eventually moved to Putnam County where he was noted as a large landowner. In the 1820 Census, he is living in Putnam County, and the tally of family members by age indicates that all of his children, except for the eldest (Virgil) are living with him.  By the mid-1820s, he had migrated to an area near Mulberry Creek in Harris County, GA, and is noted as one of the original pioneers of the county. He had large plantation holdings in Harris, Putnam, Troup, Jasper, and Meriwether counties, as many as 20,000 acres according to some reports. In a notice in the April 14, 1814 Georgia Journal newspaper, he is selling "a valuable plantation in Washington County on Williamson's swamp" that includes a two-story house, a cotton gin, apple and peach orchards. He was still living in Putnam County at this time. William Walker began buying large amounts of property in Harris County around 1828. Many sales were from land lottery winners in 1827. (See post about the Georgia Land Lotteries) Most of the land purchased by Rich Billy was along Mulberry Creek between Hamilton and Columbus, GA. The area later became known as Mulberry Grove. (My Ely/Eley ancestors lived near the Walkers.  While they were well off, their wealth couldn’t compare to the Walker Family.) David Walker, a direct descendant of “Rich Billy” Walker has an interesting image on his website showing the holdings of the Walker family.

“Rich Billy” built a large home for his family in the vicinity of  Hoody Hudson and Lower Blue Springs Roads in Harris County, GA. It stood until the 1990’s when it burned down. There is an interesting story in the book Pine Log and Greek Revival  about the Walker homes in Mulberry Grove. There is also a family cemetery on the Walker grounds, but it has been vandalized and overgrown through the years. Historians and genealogists owe a great debt to Louise Calhoun Barfield. Her book, The History of Harris County, contains many accounts of cemeteries that have been lost to time. Recently, a small cemetery related to the Walker family was found again.  I had the privilege to go and walk around the perimeter. It, too, had been vandalized. But, that’s another story.

The Walker estate included a cotton gin, grist mill, distillery, tannery, honey bee hives, and a brick kiln. He also built homes on the property for several of his eight children. “Rich Billy “died in 1831. His estate inventory of property in Harris County stated it was worth $95,148.87. In 2020 that translates into almost 3 million dollars! There is also a deed in the Harris County Superior Court that states that Mary Vivion Walker deeded six acres of land  south of the Walker home (located in the vicinity of Mountain Hill Road) to Mt. Olive Baptist Church as long as it was used as a Baptist Church. The church burned down in the 1940’s though the cemetery still exists.

William and Mary Vivion Walker’s children:

1)Virgil Homer Walker (1792-1848) m. Ann Champion Bell

2) Mary V. Polly Walker (1795-1850) m. Elijah Cook

3) William George Walker (1803-1849) m. 1) Francis G. _____ 

    2) Missouri Candler

4) Lucina Sara Walker (1804-1826) m. Iverson L. Brooks

5) Thacker Vivion Walker (1806-1873) John and Thacker were twins

6) John Thacker Walker (1806-1866) m. Melvina Tilly

7) David Enoch Walker (1810-1838)

8) Austin M. Walker (1812-1878) m. 1) Ellen Emeline Mitchell                                  2) Martha Angeline Marshall 3) Mary Fears Fannin

 

 I want to thank David Walker for allowing me to use his research on the Walker family for this post and future posts.

 

References

 

Putnam County Georgia Records, Frances Wynd, Albany, GA 1999

1820 U S Census; Census Place: Capt John H Butts District, Putnam, Georgia; Ancestry.com. 

1830 U S Census: Census Place: Harris, Georgia, Ancestry.com.

 History of Harris County Georgia, 1827 -1961,  Louise  Calhoun Barfield, Columbus, GA, 1961, p.558

http://www.neonclock.org/Pages/Walker-Geneology/LL_Walker_Ancestry.html

https://www.measuringworth.com/dollarvaluetoday/index.php#

Pine Log and Greek Revival, Houses and People of Three Counties in Georgia and Alabama, William H. Davidson, Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society, 1965, pp 192-199.

Georgia and the Land Lottery

Have you ever wondered how your ancestors ended up in the lower Georgia counties? In the late 1700's and early 1800's a good many of my ancestors were living in Greene, Washington and Wilkes County. You can see that most of Georgia was still Cherokee and Creek lands in 1805. ( There's a modern Ga county map at the end of this post.)

The first land lottery was held in Georgia in 1805, following one of the worst political scandals in Georgia's history. In 1795 Georgia's legal boundaries extended west to the Mississippi River. A group of state leaders wanted to open the land to new settlement, but there was a problem. Creeks, Cherokees and other Native Americans lived there. In 1794 a group of land speculators bribed legislators to pass a law with this title:

An Act supplementary to an Act entitled ‘An Act for appropriating a part of the unlocated territory of this state for the payment of the late state troops, and for other purposes therein mentioned, declaring the right of this State to the unappropriated territory thereof, for the protection and support of the frontiers of this State, and for other purposes.

It sounded fairly noble, but actually it allowed the companies to buy thirty five million acres of land at less than two cents an acre. The companies the sold the land to other land companies or private citizens at huge profits!! When Georgians became aware of the scandalous behavior of their state leaders, they were outraged. The scandal became known as the Yazoo Land Fraud*. Many state leaders fled the state fearing the outcome of their actions. In 1796, a newly elected state legislature repealed the Yazoo Act and had the paper the original act was printed on burned on the state house lawn. Settlers who purchased land from the speculators were not going to give up their purchased land. They went to court and the case reached the Supreme Court in 1814. The Supreme Court ordered the federal government to take control of all disputed land. At this point all disputed Yazoo claims were settled. 

Because of the corruption exposed in the Yazoo Land Fraud, Georgia turned to the lottery system. Between 1805 and 1833, there were eight land lotteries. (looking at the 1805 map and the 1827 map, it's easy to see how much land the Cherokees and Creeks had lost.) Their fate would be sealed in 1832 when they were forced to remove to the west, in a tragic journey known as the Trail of Tears.

 

The 1827 Land Lottery gave lands in the following modern counties: Carroll, Coweta, Lee, Muscogee and Troup. Each grant contained 202 !/2 acres for a fee of 18.00. Names were put in one drum and lot numbers in another. Names could be entered multiple times based on age, military service, years of residence in the state and marital status. 

The following people were allowed to draw:

• Bachelor, 18 years or over, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States - 1 draw
• Married man with wife or son under 18 years or unmarried daughter, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States – 2 draws
• Widow, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
• Wife and/or child, 3-year residence in Georgia, husband and/or father absent from state for 3 years – 1 draw
• Family (one or two ) of orphans under 18 years whose father is dead, 3-year residence in state or since birth – 1 draw
• Family (three or more) of orphans under 18 years, 3-year residence in state or since birth – 2 draws
• Widow, husband killed in Revolutionary War, War of 1812, or Indian War, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
• Orphan, father killed in Revolutionary War, War of 1812 or Indian War - 2 draws
• Wounded or disabled veteran of War of 1812 or Indian War, unable to work - 2 draws
• Veteran of Revolutionary War – 2 draws
• Veteran of Revolutionary War who had been a fortunate drawer in any previous Lottery – 1 draw
• Child or children of convict, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
• Male idiots, lunatics or insane, deaf and dumb, or blind, over 10 years and under 18 years, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
• Female idiots, insane or lunatics, deaf and dumb, or blind, over 10 years, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
• Family (one or two) of illegitimates under 18 years, residence since birth in Georgia – 1 draw
• Family (three or more) of illegitimates under 18 years, residence since birth in Georgia – 2 draws
• Child or children of a convict whose father had not drawn in any of the former land lotteries – entitled to a draw or draws in the same manner they would be entitled if they were orphans

The following people were excluded from the Land Lottery:

• Any fortunate drawer in any previous Land Lottery.
• Citizens who volunteered or were legally drafted in the War of 1812 or the Indian War and who refused to serve a tour of duty in person or by substitute.
• Anyone who may have deserted from military service.
• Any tax defaulter or absconded for debt.
• Any convict in the penitentiary.

The lottery system, while giving Georgia residents the chance to own land cheaply, did not prevent wealthier citizens from purchasing large amounts of land from the lottery winners. One such Georgia resident bought thousands of acres in Harris, Meriwether and Troup counties. His story will be told in my next post: The Walker Family.

Present Day Georgia Counties

* The Yazoo Fraud is written about in Absalom Harris Chappell's book Miscellanies of Georgia, Historical, Biographical, Descriptive, Etc., published in 1874. 

References

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gatttp/maps/formationmap.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazoo_land_scandal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Land_Lotteries

The River Valley Counties

Welcome to Historic River Valleys Counties of Georgia blog. Most of my family immigrated into the southern region of the United States (many during the 1600's). They eventually settled into Northeast Georgia before moving into River Valley counties. This blog will explore  the times, places, and people of this region. I am fortunate that I've been able to find my ancestor's churches, graves and the land they lived on. I hope to share interesting stories from this region.